Revelation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Revelation - Essay Example For instance, God makes it plain for Perpetua and her companions in a vision [where God reveals Himself to Perpetua as a feeding Shepherd] that it was God’s will that He delivers them from the persecution, but through martyrdom. This idea of God using not-so-pleasant experiences, circumstances and occurrences is also exemplified in Genesis 15:12-16. In His relationship with Abraham, God reveals that Abraham’s descendents are to be oppressed as slaves in another land [Egypt] for 430 years (Class notes, 45). In both cases [Perpetua’s and Abraham’s], there are very unfortunate circumstances that God permits, for purposes only He can understand. This is in total contrast to what some modern day televangelists tout in their ‘name-it-claim-it’ doctrine, to the effect that all Christians should have a good life, health and ample financial repository as long as they had faith. Perpetua’s martyrdom and the revelation that God gives Abraham concerning his descendants suffering in Egypt echo St. Paul’s charge that those who will live godly lives shall suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12). Again, the revelations in the martyrdom of Perpetua and her companions and in God’s relation with Israel in the wilderness also find a point of similarity. Contrary to the wrongful postulation of the average mind, Even as God allows Perpetua and her companions to undergo martyrdom, He is still a Shepherd to Perpetua and her companions. The intimation herein is that with God as the Shepherd, He delivered Perpetua through [and not from] the persecution (Natgeotv.com, 32nd minute and Class notes, 2). Therefore, God’s deliverance and care surpasses man’s idea of deliverance. Even as someone like Perpetua is tortured, she is given grace, divine resolve and protected, just as Jesus promises that not even a strand of His children’s hair shall be lost during persecution. The same is similar to the revelation God gives to the Israelites in the